Never say die wrote on Jul 14th, 2006 at 11:42am:I don't pretend to know all the answers, I am a knowledge seeker and like Victor can't accept things based on faith alone. That doesn't mean that I think Jesus is irrelevant. I believe he was one a highly evolved soul sent to earth incarnate to raise consciousness and awareness. Unfortunately I think the monotheistic religions of Christianity, Islam and Judaism have lost touch with the true spiritual meanings of human kind and the universe in general.
I'm Never Say Die and that's just my view of things. It can be hard conversing with others who have differing views but not so hard if you remember what we're hopefully all here for. TO MAKE KNOWN THE UNKNOWN!
Never Say Die, I am all for free discourse, so do not worry about discussing various beliefs as this is an open forum. I went through a long period of searching before I became more secure in my own faith.
I would suggest that it is not the religions of Christianity, etc. that have lost touch with true spiritual meanings, but rather many of their followers. As in my post to Baby Duck on maintaining your faith, she was in a discussion with Catholics who obviously did not have an understanding of the basic Catechism of the Catholic Church. People too often confuse the individual follower with the essence of the faith itself, and people are not infallible and are prone to error.
If I were to ever talk to Victor, and I am going to email him my responses to Arthur Findlay's questions which I have been working on (and am pretty content with my answers), I would also suggest that the Church also has evolved over the years and its members are still in a process of understanding faith. The Church is not a static entity, and revelation is occurring all the time and past mistakes are always in the process of being corrected. This is where I would differ with Victor...he may have been raised in the Catholic Church, but I would be curious as to what his understanding is of the Church and what he had been taught, etc. versus what I've come to discover and learn within the same faith (and bear in mind that I once walked away from the Church for much the same reasons as most people do in frustration with narrow minded individuals and others who did not live what they preached.) I would also suggest to Victor to not ignore the wealth of empirical evidence that at least validates a genuine nature to the Catholic faith in the world of spiritual development.
From what I've seen on his site regarding "empirical" evidence, I have not seen anything major that heavily contradicts the Catholic faith. There may be some points which have some different interpretations, but the overall gist seems to be pretty consistent. Remember that the Catholic Catechism allows fully for members of all religions and faiths to go to heaven if they have led a Christ-like life and been true to their God (I.E. Lived a life of love). Things such as life-reviews, continued development in the afterlife, coming into understanding of creation and God, etc. have their parrallels with the concepts of purgatory, a judgement (where your own actions judge yourself), and coming face to face (I.E. clarity of God) with God.
The Catholic Church has experienced moments when its members have gone amiss, but it has evolved to the point where it is a major force for non-violence, peace, and justice in the world today. Catholic charities are one of the purest charity organizations around in terms of aid dollars going to what they were intended to go for. This reflects a spirit of love that is inside a good majority of its members, and as most here would agree, a person of love DOES go upward in spiritual development. It is also a faith that experiences a swarm of validations in miracles, Marian apparitions, and much more that is within the mystical realm. As mentioned before, I would suggest to Victor (as a man who rests largley on empirical evidence) that the Catholic world also has a host of "empirical evidence" that would validate it as a good path for a person to come to fullness in their life development.